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I just did a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04. when I insert my USB flash drive, it automounts successfully, and I'm able to browse it and everything.

However, when I connect my USB external hard drive, it doesn't mount.

What I've done so far:

  1. I know it's an NTFS drive, so I have already installed the NTFS 3g package.

  2. I installed & opened the dconf-editor, and verified that both the automount options under org.gnome.desktop.media-handling are checked.

  3. rebooted

  4. When I run fdisk with the flash drive installed, it shows the stick mounted under /dev/sdb1. So I unmounted & removed the flash drive, and connected the hard drive, and tried to mount the drive using 

    sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/toshiba

    This resulted in 

    ntfs-3g: Failed to access volume '/dev/sdb1': No such file or directory

What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

I'll also note that I had played around with Kubuntu 16.04 installed on this same machine earlier today, and in that environment, after doing steps 1-3 above, I could get the hard drive to show up if inserted the flash drive at the same time. I don't know if that's useful information or not.

UPDATE: with a new cable on the USB hard drive, I am now at the point that I can get the hard drive to mount ONLY if I connect the hard drive first, then insert the flash drive. Both with then mount and I can browse, copy, write, etc.

With them both inserted, and I run dmesg, i get

  [  203.952349] usb 2-5: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
  [  204.102262] usb 2-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0480, idProduct=a007
  [  204.102268] usb 2-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
  [  204.102272] usb 2-5: Product: External USB 3.0
  [  204.102276] usb 2-5: Manufacturer: Toshiba
  [  204.102280] usb 2-5: SerialNumber: 20130122002613F
  [  204.364070] usb 2-4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
  [  204.514279] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0781, idProduct=5406
  [  204.514285] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
  [  204.514290] usb 2-4: Product: U3 Cruzer Micro
  [  204.514293] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: SanDisk
  [  204.514297] usb 2-4: SerialNumber: 35123007D082EE90

fdisk -l returns

  Disk /dev/sdc: 1.9 GiB, 2000682496 bytes, 3907583 sectors
  Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
  Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
  I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
  Disklabel type: dos
  Disk identifier: 0x2309745b

  Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
  /dev/sdc1  *     2048 3907582 3905535  1.9G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


  Disk /dev/sdb: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
  Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
  Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
  I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
  Disklabel type: dos
  Disk identifier: 0xdc70910d

  Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
  /dev/sdb1        2048 1953523119 1953521072 931.5G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

and finally ls /media/* returns

  /media/lyle:
  TOSHIBA EXT  UBUNTU 16_0

However, I still cannot mount the hard drive without inserting the flash drive. With the hard drive connected, but NOT the flash drive, I've tried various permutations of sudo mount....

    lyle@lyle-HP-EliteBook-8730w:~$ sudo mount -t fat32  /dev/sdc1/ '/media/lyle/TOSHIBA EXT/'
    mount: mount point /media/lyle/TOSHIBA EXT/ does not exist
    lyle@lyle-HP-EliteBook-8730w:~$ sudo mount -t fat32  /dev/sdc1/ '/media/lyle/TOSHIBA EXT'
    mount: mount point /media/lyle/TOSHIBA EXT does not exist
    lyle@lyle-HP-EliteBook-8730w:~$ sudo mount -t fat32  /dev/sdc1/ /media/toshiba
    mount: unknown filesystem type 'fat32'
    lyle@lyle-HP-EliteBook-8730w:~$ sudo mount  /dev/sdc1/ /media/toshiba
    mount: special device /dev/sdc1/ does not exist
    lyle@lyle-HP-EliteBook-8730w:~$ sudo mount  /dev/sdc1 /media/toshiba
    mount: special device /dev/sdc1 does not exist
lkb3
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  • When you plug in the USB drive, what device is used at the end of dmesg output? – ubfan1 Mar 11 '17 at 19:53
  • AFAIK, you don't need any additional packages to mount NTFS partitions. Ubuntu (I suppose, actually, the Linux kernel) "understands" this from the box. – d.k Mar 11 '17 at 20:43
  • Don't you have a GUI? I just wonder, because, I have never heard of such problems, though I have been using Ubuntu for 7 years. Any usb flash or hard drive always have been mounted automatically for me. – d.k Mar 11 '17 at 20:47
  • Coukld you have this problem: https://askubuntu.com/questions/729397/cant-mount-or-fix-corrupt-ntfs-partition-on-working-hdd/729466#729466 – waltinator Mar 12 '17 at 02:42
  • You can edit the original question to add information, and you have more control over formatting (use code tags). I just see the flash drive, try another USB port and a different cable. Do you see the drive from the BIOS? – ubfan1 Mar 12 '17 at 19:19
  • @ubfan1 thanks for the tip. I updated the post. – lkb3 Mar 13 '17 at 02:02

1 Answers1

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I don't know how the flash would affect the USB external disk other than confusing the names for you. Try 

sudo blkid

to get a listing of available partitions and types. If not seen, probably a hardware problem. Then use

df

to see if the partitions of interest are already mounted If not, make a directory under /mnt for the mount

sudo mkdir /mnt/ext

Then try the mount using ntfs, not fat32 on the device and the directory you made.

ubfan1
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